We didn’t leave. We were about to go when the bartender bought us a round. Evan ordered some food and I couldn’t let him eat alone. It got late. I noticed Bob, glassy eyed and staring over my head. At first I thought we really did need to get the check, but then I saw that he was watching Scandal.

It reminded me a lot of Spin Doctor—except for the gunfire, of course. What got Bob’s attention—the beginning of the show, they shot the president. Fitz. You know how old Bob is. I think it reminded him of the Reagan shooting in 1981. He got a sick look on his face, but he couldn’t stop watching. Just as in 1981, the press secretary was shot. Bob told us the networks announced that the press secretary, Jim Brady was dead. All except one: Frank Reynolds on ABC. He was getting news in his ear, just like on Scandal last night, and he said on the air that he wasn’t going to report “that” because it hadn’t been verified. He wanted to be right, more than he wanted to be the first one to report the tragic news. But perhaps even more, he knew that Brady’s legion of friends around Washington

and the rest of the country were hanging on his every word.

What is true in Washington is often unclear. But Scandal does a good job of taking realism and giving it a prurient twist. Nice job with the setting, very accurate, for the most part, on the interior of the White House. Of course, I don’t remember the President wandering around the halls without Secret Service in sight. And walking outside without them in close formation, like the chain gang in an old Woody Allen movie. It’s been a while since I was in the Residence, but I don’t think there is a closet quite like the one on the show. Minor details, really.

When I saw they were shooting the President, frankly I thought they had run out of story ideas. Like on West Wing, when they started kidnapping and shooting people. The characters had been emptied out and they couldn’t think of anything new. But I’m not sure that’s true of Scandal. I think they have a pretty good story arch going. Fitz is a strong, likeable character. It would be a shame to kill him off. It looks like we know who shot him. But why? Shades of Manchurian Candidate?

Anyway, not sure why you wanted to meet, but let’s reschedule. I have a few more ideas for your next book. Bob and I made a list of people for you to kill.

Jack*

*Jack is the main character in Spin Doctor. Not a real person, although he doesn’t know that.